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TIME: Almanac 1993
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TIME Almanac 1993.iso
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041591
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0415472.000
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1992-08-28
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BOOKS, Page 66Young Einstein
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
By Lisa Grunwald
Knopf; 333 pages; $20
At 30, physicist Alexander Simon has everything, including
the Theory of Everything. His new, Nobel-size hypothesis ties
up the movement of the tides and the invisible violence of the
atom, the phenomenon of light and the drag of gravity. If only
this young Einstein were a think-tank nerd, he could insulate
himself from the challenges of academic inquiry and worldwide
publicity.
But Alexander is all too human. He finds himself
retreating from a universe whose significance eludes him and
undone by persistent echoes of childhood. It was then that his
mother Alice abandoned her family -- but not before she
convinced the boy that there are such phenomena as ghosts and
guardian angels. As Alexander edges toward nervous collapse,
Alice returns from a 20-year absence. With her is Cleo, a
seductive and hilarious blond, flourishing every new-age
artifice from palmis try and crystal therapy to numerology and
astrology. Smitten, Alexander finds himself pulled toward
opposing terminals: the arena of scientific investigation and
the realm of emotion and mysticism.
In her second work of fiction (the first was Summer, in
1986), Lisa Grunwald displays her own gifts of unification.
Alexander's obsession with the quartet of forces that influence
every particle is counterbalanced by an enchantment with the
four elements of alchemy: water, earth, air and fire. And his
search for the ultimate strands of matter vie with a desire to
find the basic truths of metaphysics.
Which will triumph? Or is a victory really necessary? Are
the two arenas of knowledge irreconcilable? Or are they
different entrances to the same estate? Such questions have
intrigued scientists ever since Plato first observed that
"astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from
this world to another." Grunwald offers no final answers, but
her chart of genius in extremis is witty and sympathetic. In The
Theory of Everything, Alexander has come up with an
extraordinary insight. His creator has kept pace. She has
produced that rarest of all items in the VCR age: an authentic
philosophical novel.
By Stefan Kanfer